As a land manager, I’m always on the lookout for programs that can fund land management activities. This year, we are applying to a program that supports land management, offered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)/Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The program is called the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). It offers landowners a fixed, annual payment, for managing their resources responsibly.
In years past, we enrolled in the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). EQIP reimburses a farmer for performing Best Management Practices (BMPs) on their land.
These practices include things like cross-fencing, planting trees, planting cover crops, installing watering stations, and constructing low-water crossings. Their cumulative effect is that soil and water are better managed on a farm.
EQIP is a good program that pays more money than CSP, but I kept missing my contract deadlines due to factors beyond my control. For instance, I agreed to burn 100 acres of pine woods by a certain year, but due to poor weather, I had to postpone the burn. I missed the deadline, and that resulted in government paperwork. Boo. After two EQIP contracts and a few missed deadlines, I learned about a new program called CSP.
CSP is designed for landowners who are already following Best Management Practices (BMPs) and meeting the “resource concerns” of the property, like us. We’re already spraying weeds, protecting water, and burning the pine woods. CSP recognizes this work and pays a small, fixed amount each year for doing all that stuff, based upon on acreage and land cover type. Along with this payment, CSP requires that you perform at least one new practice during the five-year contract period; though, you can choose to do more practices and receive more funding if you choose.
So far, I have found the process simpler and easier than EQIP. As of June 30, we’re pre-approved to enroll about 700 acres of forest and wetlands, receiving about $3,000 each year for the next five years ($15,000 total). While that’s much less than EQIP would pay for each individual practice, it’s a good fit for us. We already did EQIP twice, knocked out a couple of high-paying and high-impact practices, and now we’re ready for “maintenance” funding. That’s the way I’m looking at it.
If you manage land, I encourage you to evaluate EQIP and CSP, and choose a program that’s right for you.
The best way to get started is by calling your district conservationist.
This web map can help you locate your local service center, although it doesn’t tell you the name of the district conservationist at each service center. https://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app
As of the time of this writing, our local district conservatists are:
Sarasota & Manatee County
Israel Vega
- 941-444-3143
- 941-209-9776
DeSoto & Hardee County
Dan Schabillion
- 863-773-4764
- 352-538-4174
Charlotte, Lee, & Collier County
Santos Colberg
- (239) 214-3114
- (561) 402-9579
After calling them, you’ll want to do a site tour with them and talk about the type of practices you’re interested in. For me, I always ask for the cost-reimbursement rate sheet before they visit, so that I know the type of stuff they will pay for, and how much. Then when they visit, we talk about the details.
You can read more about CSP on the NRCS website here.
You can read more about EQIP on the NRCS website here.
And see the cost reimbursement rates on the NRCS website here.
You can learn about USDA programs on their website here.
As a final note, if you’ve never worked with the NRCS programs, I will warn you that the process is cumbersome. However, don’t let that dissuade you. My advice is to call the district conservationist and let them help you, step by step. It’s much simpler than it looks.
In the end, I think you’ll be happy with the results.
